Highlights from 95 Theses

Highlights from the 95 Theses
Have you ever read Luther's 95 theses? In honor of October 31, Reformation Day, here's a selection of 31 from a "modern translation":



1. When Jesus said "repent" he meant that believers should live a whole life repenting

2. Only God can give salvation - not a priest.

3. Inwards penitence must be accompanied with a suitable change in lifestyle.

4. Sin will always remain until we enter Heaven.

5. The pope must act according to canon law.

6. Only God can forgive -the pope can only reassure people that God will do this.

18. A sinful soul does not have to be always sinful. It can be cleansed.

21. An indulgence will not save a man.

22. A dead soul cannot be saved by an indulgence.

23. Only a very few sinners can be pardoned. These people would have to be perfect.

24. Therefore most people are being deceived by indulgences.

25. The pope’s power over Purgatory is the same as a priest’s.

26. When the pope intervenes to save an individual, he does so by the will of God.

27. It is nonsense to teach that a dead soul in Purgatory can be saved by money.

28. Money causes greed - only God can save souls.

45. A person who passes by a beggar but buys an indulgence will gain the anger and disappointment of God.

48. The pope should have more desire for devout prayer than for ready money.

53. Those who forbid the word of God to be preached and who preach pardons as a norm are enemies of both the pope and Christ.

54. It is blasphemy that the word of God is preached less than that of indulgences.

55. The pope should enforce that the gospel - a very great matter - must be celebrated more than indulgences.

62. The main treasure of the church should be the Gospels and the grace of God.

71. People who deny the pardons of the Apostles will be cursed.

76. You should feel guilt after being pardoned. A papal pardon cannot remove guilt.

77. Not even St. Peter could remove guilt.

79. It is blasphemy to say that the insignia of the cross is of equal value with the cross of Christ.

82. Why doesn’t the pope clean feet for holy love not for money ?

84. Evil men must not buy their salvation when a poor man, who is a friend of God, cannot.

89. Why are indulgences only issued when the pope sees fit to issue them ?

93. Those in the church who claim there is no problem must go.

94. Christians must follow Christ at all cost.

95. Let Christians experience problems if they must - and overcome them - rather than live a false life based on present Catholic teaching.

It's All About Jesus

The Statue of Responsibility

When Patrick Henry beaconed, "Give me liberty or give me death," his maxim was pointing to an overbearing government and their oppression through taxation, not the systematic departure of moral authority. When you observe our culture, you see a people obsessed with images, a people obsessed with sex, violence, and instant gratification. You see a people that have forgotten to logical consequence of their own behavior. They have jettisoned absolutes and don't realize they will reap what they sow. For example, take the typical 26 year old man who is addicted to porn and denies God. Well, now give that man a wife and two children. His porn problem continues if not consistently; on and off. Now, fast forward 20 years, when his daughter is 18 years old. Her figure is becoming more prominent, and her curves more visible. She is an attractive young lady in the eyes of men, but her father (now 46) stops hugging her and kissing her. Why? Well think back to his porn problem, it has now a deep root in his heart, and he cannot stop his habitual sin. The lustful videos and photographs of women posing and inflaming his lustful desires have messed with his mind to the point where he feels shame because those women are beginning to remind him of his daughter. In short, when he sees his daughter his mind goes to naked women he has been looking at on the computer because of the general patterns of association the brain develops. He now doesn't want to touch his daughter or express affection because he feels shame.

We have forgotten that we reap is what we sow. One needs to realize on the other side of liberty (freedom) is responsibility. Personal responsibility for ones actions, choices, and decisions. Perhaps lady liberty needs a sister statue erected on its sister coast, the statue of Responsibility. God is not mocked whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.(Gal 6:8) Let us wake up to the destruction of our day, think you the logical consequences of our actions and not make decisions in haste.

As C.S. Lewis, the British philosopher delineates, we have removed the organ, yet demand the function. In short we have created men without chests!

Quote

"My business is with all my might to serve my own generation. In doing so I shall best serve the next generation, should the Lord tarry...I have but one life to live on earth and this one life is but a brief life for sowing in comparison with eternity for reaping."

George Mueller

"Revival Conference Live Webcasts 2009

Tim Keller Sermon

150 Tim Keller sermons online now for free

http://sermons2.redeemer.com/redeemer-free-sermon-resource.

If you've never heard him, you have to listen. He is Yoda smart with the gospel.

Anglicans become Catholics.

I found this article on CNN to be very interesting and bewildering.  Apparently the Catholic Church is letting certain Anglicans who are tired of prominent liberal Anglican views rejoin the Catholic Church.  I could comment more on this, but I am curious to hear what some of you all think about the article and what the implications of this might be.

Check it:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/10/20/vatican.anglican.church/index.html

Jonah's Prayer

Jonah's Prayer

2 Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, saying,

x “I called out to the Lord, out of my distress,
and he answered me;
y out of the belly of Sheol I cried,
z and you heard my voice.

a For you cast me into the deep,
into the heart of the seas,
and the flood surrounded me;
b all your waves and your billows
passed over me.

c Then I said, ‘I am driven away
from your sight;
d yet I shall again look
upon your holy temple.’

e The waters closed in over me f to take my life;
the deep surrounded me;
weeds were wrapped about my head

at the roots of the mountains.
I went down to the land
whose bars closed upon me forever;
yet you brought up my life from the pit,
O Lord my God.

When my life was fainting away,
I remembered the Lord,
g and my prayer came to you,
into your holy temple.

h Those who pay regard to vain idols
i forsake their hope of steadfast love.

j But I with the voice of thanksgiving
will sacrifice to you;
what I have vowed I will pay.
k Salvation belongs to the Lord!”

And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.

(scripture taken from http://www.esvstudybible.org )

Earlier tonight, my pastor, Andy Lutz, gave a sermon on Chapter 2 of Jonah, showing us how Jonah's life points us to the beautiful Doctrines of Grace.

The main points:

1. verse 9

- Salvation belongs to the Lord!

- many theologians suggest this sums of the entire Bible

2. God brought Jonah to look to God's temple

- why would Jonah be reminded of God's temple in the belly of a fish?

- how does this point us to Christ?

3. God brought Jonah to rediscover grace

- what's the deal with unclean lips?

- how does God's grace enable us to serve?

Check tonight's service from Edgewood Baptist Church in Anderson, Indiana, and discover how the book of Jonah points us to the grace given to us by Christ!

bond-servant to Christ Jesus,

- josh

http://www.petoreformata.com

Equality Between Men and Women

The Doctrine of Imago Dei teaches us that men and women are equal and different but most importantly that they were created in the image of God.

I have heard the famous bible teacher of the 16th century, John Calvin, explain the image of God along with the plight of man's depravity as a broken mirror: we are able to reflect God's "image" but in a shattered form.

Think back to Genesis when God created our first parents. God clearly made men and women equal, but different. When we look at a man and then we look at a women we see they are different. The latter being the choice to look at for all man kind. However, this concept is not understood in modern day America.

With the rise of feminism outsiders to Christianity are unable to see that men and women have different roles, responsibilities, and functions that are not just clearly seen physically, but clearly visible in scripture. Men and women are different.

Men, in general, will always maintain there physical advantage over women. But that role is not placed there to allow for violence. Man's strength is to protect women and children.

Where are the men?
Where are the women?

Luke Series

Expel the Immoral Brother

When I had a NIV Bible 1 Co. 5:9-13 happened to fall under a section entitled "Expel the Immoral Brother."  I always got a kick out of this when I saw it because of the strong language that was used and the connotations it implied.  For some reason the editors of the ESV Bible didn't put this section title in their translation.  It was probably a good decision for I can see the glancing eye getting the wrong impression.  Even so, I do believe we need to take 1 Co. 5:9-13 seriously since we Christians, especially here at petoReformata, believe it was inspired by God.

1Co 5:9-13  I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people--  (10)  not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world.  (11)  But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler--not even to eat with such a one.  (12)  For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge?  (13)  God judges those outside. "Purge the evil person from among you."

Paul does use strong language in this passage for us not to associate with those that claim the name of Christ and yet are habitually immoral. Unfortunately this particular teaching is not applied in the Church today.  Now, you might be thinking "Griff, isn't there a better way to go about this than just kicking people out of the Church or disassociating with them?"  That is a valid question and I believe there is a valid answer that lies in Matthew 18 about confronting our brothers in Christ.  I as a twenty year old with limited years of Christian experience do not claim to know exactly how this is supposed to be worked out.  However, there is a great two part sermon series by Pastor Jeff Noblit of Grace Life Church of the Shoals that deals with this subject of church discipline and the success of biblical church discipline at Grace Life Church.  

You can check out Church Discipline and the Glory of God here: http://www.anchoredintruth.org/resources/sermons/various_texts

for His glory,

Griff

Resurrection of Christ

Thomas Arnold (professor of Modern History at 


Oxford):

“No one fact in the history of mankind . . . is proved by better 


and fuller evidence of every sort” than the

fact that

“Christ died and rose from the dead.”

Arguing and Debating

If you are anything like me then you have those friends who love to get in debates.  Those friends of mine happen to also be my petoReformata friends. you bring up a controversial topic, especially relating to Bible you will find them defending their convictions very passionately. I personally think it is great.  Some people, however, don’t.  

For my Foundation of human communications class here at Appalachian State I had the opportunity to read a Chapter out of Christopher Lasch’s The Revolt of the Elites and Betrayal of Democracy entitled  “The Lost Art of Argument.” In this chapter a statement was made about arguing that made me think about all of my argumentative friends and come to their defense.

"Until we have to defend our opinions in public, they remain opinions in Lippman’s pejorative sense- half formed convictions based on random impressions and unexamined assumptions.  It is in the act of articulating ad defending our views that lifts them out of the category of ‘opinions,’ gives them shape and definition, and makes it possible for others to recognize them as a description of their experience as well” (Lasch The Revolt of Elites and Betrayal of Democracy p 170)

Lasch goes on to make the argument in the chapter that through arguing we are pushed to find new important relevant information.  I bring this up because in our society arguments and debate at times can be frowned upon, especially in Christianity.  But it is necessary to test our convictions and examine our lives and beliefs through debating our perspectives with others as long as it is done in a cordial manner. So, here is to debating. May it push us ever onwards on our quest for truth as we use it to examine our beliefs and others.

Street Preachers on Campus

The other day I walked out of class and what did I see… not a bird, not a plane, not superman but a crowd of around two hundred students around a street preacher.  Inside of me something leapt for joy and at the same time fell with sorrow as I saw a man holding a sign saying God hates homosexuals, fornicators, immoral women, etc. and wearing a neon green shirt proclaiming “Turn or Burn.” Immediately red flags came up so I stopped to listen.  As I watched and eventually spoke to one of three men who was there proclaiming salvation I observed a few issues that I had with the preachers.

1.     The crowd was more offended at the presentation than the actual Gospel Message

2.     The preacher said that babies were not born sinners

3.     Our repentance was emphasized MORE than the work of Christ.

4.     Two out of the three evangelists would not admit they fall in to sin.

Interestingly enough the preacher used a style that is regularly used by Ray Comfort of Way of the Master and Wretched Radio’s Todd Friel.  Now I happen to like Way of the Master, Wretched Radio, Ray Comfort, Todd Friel, street preaching, and above all the gospel message, but the fact that the crowd was more offended at the presentation concerned me greatly.  In his recording “Witnessing to two Lesbians at the State Fair” Todd Friel mentions that when witnessing, or street preaching for that matter, one must be cautious to bring up homosexuality because when one does it is as if they attack the identity of their audience. Now if homosexuality comes up it comes up, but if we bring it to the table before sin such as hate, lust, and lying then it comes off as an attack. I also found it intriguing that those in the crowd were more irate about the attack on homosexuals than anything else.

            Now when the preacher mentioned that babies were not born sinners I became very concerned. After all sin nature is at the core of orthodox Christian beliefs. It was explained to me upon inquiring with one of the preachers farther that because we have “free will” we chose to sin when after we were born.  This ignores the imputation of Adam’s sin onto all generations as stated in Romans 5:12-14 and Romans 5:18.  Now the chief argument of the man I was conversing with was that if we are born into sin then that would mean babies go to Hell.  I am not a theological scholar and I have not researched the age of accountability or looked into one of many theories about what happens to children that die at a young age, but I do know that God’s judgment is just and that apart from the judgments that have been revealed to me from his written word they are also “unsearchable.” (Romans 11:33) However, I do know that Paul clearly states in Romans 5 that because of Adam’s sin all are under the condemnation of sin.

            For those that are familiar with Ray Comfort’s style of evangelism you may know that repentance is stressed, and that is not a bad thing.  Repentance is a sure sign of salvation.  However in the “gospel” proclamation that I experienced the work of God’s Salvation through His son Jesus Christ was drastically minimized.  What do I mean by that? Though God’s mercy was mentioned it was not made clear that Jesus bore the wrath of God for the sins of all those who placed their trust in Him. Instead repentance and right living were emphasized and the evangelists went as far to say that if we do not live a holy life style God will judge us and send us to Hell.  Whatever happened to the concept of justification where Christ died once and for all for our sins, past present AND future? (Romans 3:23-26, Hebrews 7:27)

            To be honest I was pretty heated up with a lot of the issues that these “preachers” were bringing up but the issue that really brought out my concern and frustration was the preachers did not believe that they sinned any longer.  One of them said that he surrendered to the cross daily so he did not sin.  This is to ignore 1 John 1:7-10.  Of course he would say that John was talking about someone who was not saved, but the context hints this is not the case.

            So, what point do I want to make through this blog?  Well, when I am looking at these men who are proclaiming the “gospel” and examining their lives I must also examine my own.  When witnessing, do I offend others with my presentation instead of the gospel? How often do I remember the world’s depravity in sin and does that move me to have compassion for the lost? Do I emphasis repentance more than Christ when I witness to others or even in my own life? Am I willing to admit that I still have a problem with a thing called sin and it is only through Christ that I am being rescued from it?  I am just happy to say that though I may not pass this test, God is still Sovereign and what he wills will be accomplished despite my flaws or the flawed proclamations of certain street preachers.